Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year! (Week 15)


This past week has been good, Christmas was wonderful. It was a little difficult to find people to visit with because we weren't allowed to tract or visit investigators without a set appointment, but we were able to meet with a bunch of members. On Christmas Eve night things got super slow, so we decided we would go Christmas caroling, -me, Elder Jenkins, and the Zone Leaders. It was a blast. We weren't the best carolers but we had a lot of fun. On one of the porches we sang ‘Away in a Manger’ to a family and we completely forgot the tune half-way through. Elder Moore could not stop laughing, he could not control himself. Almost every home we sang at Elder Moore would bust up laughing and we would all start to laugh. However, we got a lot better at singing towards the end of the night. At one door we sang Silent Night and you could just see on the family's face that they were feeling the Spirit.

This week we have been really working on getting our investigators to come to church, but things keep coming up where they can’t come or they're too lazy. The Sabbath is so important in the process to conversion; it is where the main fellow-shipping takes place. We as missionaries are only there in the ward for a certain amount of time and then we leave. If our investigators only have a relationship with us how are they supposed to stay active after we leave? This morning I was reading 3 Nephi 18, where Christ teaches the people to pray with their family, gather together for church, and pray for their fellow man and serve others. Our investigators and less-actives don't realize the blessings they are missing out on when they do not come to church and take the sacrament.

J~ is a new investigator we found this past week. We taught the restoration to him at the library and he enjoyed it. He is a father of two teenagers and he wants to clean up his life so he can be a good example to them. While we taught him the Restoration, we brought up priesthood authority, which really caught his attention. It was a pretty powerful lesson and the Spirit was really strong. We are going to teach him the Plan of Salvation this Wednesday. 

We also had a pretty cool experience out tracting while I was on exchanges with Elder Moore. We had just got done trying to knock a recent convert’s door, when I felt impressed to knock a door up the road and across the street. There was a man standing on the porch smoking; he looked at us and then went back inside. Elder Moore and I both looked at each other. We had Brother BC Rogers out with us (older man) and we didn't want to make him walk very far; but something kept telling me that we needed to knock the door so we did. It turned out the man was a member, a very inactive member. He invited us in and we talked with him. We got his information so we could later get his church records moved to the correct ward. He told us about his struggles and his two troubled teenage daughters. It’s amazing how the Spirit guided us to knock their door. Who knows how long it would have been for later missionaries to find them if we didn't follow the Spirit. 

Anyways, I hope all is well at home and that you guys aren't sick with the flu (it’s going around here). Thank you all for your Christmas letters I'm so grateful for all your love and support. I love you all and have a happy New Year!

Sincerely, Elder Watkins

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